Quotations relevant to the Path

[Insanus]

If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own—the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple—a few plain words—"My Heart Laid Bare." But—this little book must be true to its title. -Edgar Allan Poe

[Heith]

Poe is one of my all-time favourites.

On Death, Kahlil Gibran;

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.


In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?


For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?


Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

[Fomalhaut]

"And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" 2 Peter 1:19

[Nefastos]

"Beloved servants, lovely servants, swift servants, light-footed servants,
who stand before the stone of the throne of glory,
who wait upon the wheel of the chariot.

When the sapphire of the throne of glory whirls at them,
when the wheel of the chariot hurls past them,
those of the right now stand again to the left,
those on the left now stand again to the right,
those in front now stand again in back,
those in back now stand again in front."

- The Face of God (an excerpt)

A hekhalot hymn, 3rd to 4th century. Translated by T. Carmi.

[Nefastos]

"Krishna was an avatâra of Vishnu, while Jesus, from the very little we know of him, was, in my judgment, an avatâra of Shiva; and I might add that there does not appear to be any alternation in the successive appearances of the avatâras of Shiva and of Vishnu."

- de Purucker: Avatâras of Mahâ-Vishnu and Mahâ-Shiva

[Nefastos]

"Is it not extremely odd, for example, that God refused to the beings he created the power to tell the difference between good and evil? Can anyone imagine anything more absurd than such a being, one unable to tell what is acceptable from what is wicked? It should have been evident that left to himself man would not avoid the latter, I mean evil things, nor pursue the former, I mean good things. The heart of matter is that God refused to let man taste of wisdom, even though nothing could be more important to mankind.

Even the fool recognizes that wisdom includes the power to tell the difference between the good and what is less good, and so considered it emerges that the serpent was really acting as benefactor of the human race. Moreover: their God is to be called malignant..."

- Emperor Julian: Against the Galileans (translated by R. Joseph Hoffmann)

[obnoxion]

Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good nor the evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death.

-Gospel of Philip (53:15-20)-

[obnoxion]

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Ain-Soph, Jah, Soph-Jah

In the name of the Unutterable, Awesome, and All-powerful, I call upon gods, demons, men, and all living creatures. Gather into one the rays of your power, block the path of the source of your own desires, and become partakers of my prayer, that we may capture the pure Dove of Zion and acquire the priceless pearl of Ophir, that the roses may unite with the lilies in the valley of Sharon. O most holy Divine Sophia, essential image of the beauty and sweetness of the transcendent God, the bright body of Eternity, the Soul of worlds and the one Queen of all souls, by the inexpressible profundity and grace of thy first Son and beloved, Jesus Christ, I implore thee: descend into the prison of the soul, fill our darkness with thy radiance, melt away the fetters that bind our spirit with the fire of thy love, grant us light and freedom, appear to us in visible and substantial form, incarnate thyself in us and in the world, restoring the fullness of the Ages, so that the deep may be confined and that God may be all in all.


- Vladimir Solovyev's Prayer of the Revelation of the Great Mystery -

[Jiva]

”Well, one thing is clear: in order to establish the true value of a function, one must take it to its limits. And it is clear that yesterday's ridiculous 'dissolution into the universe,' taken to its limits, is death. Because death is exactly that: the ultimate dissolution of my self into the universe. And hence, if 'L' signifies love and 'D' signifies death, then L = f(D) – that is, love is a function of death...”

- D-503 in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.

[Nefastos]

"In some worlds, young man of good family, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Avalokitesvara preaches the law to creatures in the shape of a Buddha; in others he does so in the shape of a Bodhisattva. To some beings he shows the law in the shape of a Pratyekabuddha; to others he does so in the shape of a disciple; to others again under that of Brahma, Indra, or a Gandharva. To those who are to be converted by a goblin, he preaches the law assuming the shape of a goblin; to those who are to be converted by Isvara, he preaches the law in the shape of Isvara; to those who are to be converted by Mahesvara, he preaches assuming the shape of Mahesvara. To those who are to be converted by a Kakravartin he shows the law after assuming the shape of a Kakravartin; to those who are to be converted by an imp, he shows the law under the shape of an imp; to those who are to be converted by Kubera; he shows the law by appearing in the shape of Kubera..."

– Saddharma-Pundarîka XXIV: The All-Sided One